Hello, health enthusiasts, and welcome to Rev Up Health, your go-to podcast for all things wellness. I'm Dr. Mark Hechler, and I'm Tandi Hechler. Together we're here to fuel your health journey with the best of functional medicine and holistic well-being. Each episode, we'll dive deep into topics that matter to your health, bringing you the latest insights, research, and inspiring stories. Whether you're on a quest for vibrant health or just looking for daily health tips, we've got you covered. So let's embark on this journey together and transform the way you live. So, Tandi, what's on our wellness radar for today?
Hello, and welcome to the Rev Up Health Podcast. I'm Tandi, and I'm Dr. Mark, and today we wanted to talk a little about our most recent adventure. We traveled to Bhutan and did a half marathon and lots of hiking. Bhutan is an Asian country, kind of right under Tibet in the Himalayan mountains, and it was very beautiful — a great place to visit, wonderful people, a fun culture to learn about, very loving and outgoing folks, very appreciative.
How This Marathon Adventure Started
Before we get going, a little background on this "half marathon all over the world" adventure — how did it start? Back when I was running a lot of marathons, and we first started to date before we got married, I signed up for a race in Madagascar. The night before, going up to get my bib — it was a smaller marathon, so there were probably only about 100 of us — they had a little table with an old sign that said you could still sign up. So I signed you up without you even knowing it, and brought you the bib that night, and you go, "What is this?" You're running a half marathon tomorrow.
"Running" is a very loose term. Previous to this, I had done a half marathon, and before that I trained for probably six years. After I completed that, I thought, "Well, that's great, I've done that, and I don't have to do that again." But I figured, what else am I going to do all day while he's out running a full marathon? I can walk it, for sure. So that was the start, and that's kind of what I've done as I go around with him — competing, traveling the world and the United States, running races, visiting countries and states and cities, and enjoying ourselves.
Just taking it slow — even though I've probably done 20-ish half marathons now, I pretty much always take it easy, but I do enjoy it.
Why Bhutan?
So, Bhutan — I chose it. Why? Well, because it was in Bhutan, and it's a very spiritual, beautiful place. I chose it for the place, but it was also going to be your sixth of seven continents, so check that off the list.
We entered that, and at that point we were training up to it. We were doing some training — maybe it wasn't as consistent or heavy as we needed — but we also live at only about a thousand-foot elevation here in Missouri, and the base elevation in Bhutan was at 7,400 feet. So that was quite a big increase in elevation. The heat was different over there too — it wasn't like it was over here. So you throw in the heat, you throw in the elevation, and a lot of hills. Exactly, a lot of hills.
Running It Together
Typically we don't do these races together — Mark does his marathon and I do my half — but we've done a couple, and this was like our third one. Like I said, I typically take a race pretty easy, but this time we were together, and the first part of the race is downhill, so we were running quite a bit, and it didn't feel terrible. Honestly, I felt really good at first. I always have this one little rule: you can walk uphill, but if there's downhill, you need to run — you can make good ground, you're falling downhill, and all you've got to do is keep your feet moving. The first few miles were real gentle downhill, and it was a nice day that morning — it started out really nice and cool, we had a lot of energy, we felt good, we got good sleep and had good eating while we were there. So everything was just right to start the race off well.
Another thing to note is that there were no porta-potties in Bhutan, so I had this in the back of my head that I maybe shouldn't drink too much, because I didn't want to have to go to the bathroom and not know where I could do that. So you can't hydrate and go crazy before the race — another layer to the situation.
Ultimately, this race was the most challenging half marathon I've ever done, because of the heat, the elevation, and the hills — and, quite honestly, the lack of support too. There weren't very many stations to get fluids. Actually, every few miles they had them, but it depended on the location. It's not like a race you do in the States — definitely not the same thing. We really didn't carry much fluid with us — none, except for the bottle they gave us at the first stop.
The Struggle at the End
By the time we got to the second half of the race, it's more uphill than downhill, and any of the downhills are kind of rocky, so you really couldn't run down those hills. By the time we got to the last quarter of the race, I was really struggling — super hot and thirsty. I probably ran a little hard at the first part of it. But you were doing great and recovering — you'd get some walking in, and it was working out fine.
It's tough for someone to judge somebody else's fitness level or hydration, or to know what's going on. You actually had trouble there at the end too, with not really sweating — that was a little tip that you noticed. At that point I sent Mark to the general store. In Bhutan it's really funny — a lot of people have these little general stores just kind of attached to their house, and there were general stores all along this race route, these one-room general stores with basic necessities. But they had water, and it was cold, so you bought me some, and then I was feeling like, "Okay, yes, this is totally fine." You'll see from the pictures — I looked good at the end, I didn't look like I was struggling as much as I was. And truth be told, I actually did not feel terrible after we finished. I think it was listening to my body, taking that turn and slowing way down, and getting the extra water. You've got to cut back and save some of the reserves to get to the end.
Recovery and Mitochondrial Support
One thing, if you run races or do endurance events — before this year, I would kind of always know that the next couple of days I was going to be pretty sore and really have to try to recover. One thing we've noticed this year, because in December we started taking Urolithin A in Mitopure, is that it's been a game changer as far as recovery and mitochondrial health.
The point of Urolithin A, in my mind, is not necessarily to make you go faster from a strength standpoint — it's really there to make you go farther, so your endurance level is better. And then recovery is going to be better and easier afterward too, because you've got more efficiency. That's what I liked about it. I have really felt that. I was a little sore in my adductors, just from the extra running I did on this race, but it was not like a normal post-race feeling.
To back this up a little too — we didn't just show up and run this race. We went up early to get acclimatized to the elevation, but we did some strenuous hikes that were pretty much all-day hikes, uphill, with a lot of elevation gain — 2,700 feet of elevation gain on one hike, one day. These are eight- and six-mile-long hikes as the crow flies, not necessarily counting the ups and downs. So there's a lot of hills, and as a result you have a lot of muscle fatigue that you have to recover from. We had a day between the hikes and the race to recover. That's another benefit of having this Mitopure — I think it allowed us to recover quicker and faster.
Thinking Ahead: The Aging Challenge
Ultimately, after this race and feeling that struggle, which I don't typically feel, I got to thinking: if I'm doing this right now at 46, what does this look like when I'm 70? So I'm thinking I need to improve my endurance and my strength, knowing that every year that goes by, we do tend to dwindle down — we lose hormonal support and muscle, all the things — so you really have to work to maintain those.
So, enter the challenge I'm going to start. I'm going to work with my friends over at BodyMetrics and get some baseline information on my body composition and my VO2 max, and improve my VO2 max. VO2 max is basically how well you deliver oxygen to the cells you need when you're actively exercising. If we can increase our cardiac output and improve our pulmonary status, then you're going to put more blood and more oxygen to the cells. The better that is, the better your fitness — it's kind of a biomarker gauge of how fit we are.
Body composition is also something we want to improve. Nobody wants to lug around extra weight that's not serving a purpose. If we can increase our muscle mass, we're going to increase our strength, and that's going to help us with glucose transportation and utilization too. But we don't only need to get the oxygen and glucose there — we've got to utilize it, and that will help with the muscles being in better shape.
We've got some basic starting parameters that we've initiated, so we're going to try to start moving forward. It's not only important if you have an interest in improving your muscle mass, strength, and stability for racing or performance — it's very important for age and longevity. If you can keep, maintain, or build muscle strength now, that's actually going to help you later when we get older and have to go on the airplane by ourselves as a 70- or 80-year-old, going up and down the jetways and putting luggage in the overhead compartments. And even something as simple as bone mass will also improve, which — hip fractures, falling — those things can be absolutely detrimental to the elderly, so that's something we want to avoid. And the strength, stability, and coordination come in.
Working Around Injuries
The other thing we're going to have to work on: I do have a little bit of a hip and knee issue that needs some physical therapy. It's nothing huge, and I have done some, but I need to do it a little more regularly. So I can't just go out and run and run and run — I have to work in some biking and other things that are going to stretch and improve mitochondrial function. There are a lot of things we focus on in our practice about how to improve those things, and that's really key.
It's nice to be able to feel good after you get through the race, but it's also important to feel good during the race — or going to the grocery store, carrying in groceries, going up a set of steps, or climbing hills and mountains like we've done. That's all part of it too.
If I Can Do It, Anyone Can
Another thing I want to put in here, because sometimes people get this idea in their head — being someone who completes a marathon, which I guess I still kind of think of like, "Holy cow, I can't believe people actually just do that." But I know there are people who think the same thing about a half marathon, and the truth is, if I can do it, anyone can do it. You may not think you can, but you can — it just takes time, training, the right mindset, and the right fuel and hydration.
I've done other endurance events too — we've done 29029 climbs, and I did an Avon 3-Day Breast Cancer Walk, which was a marathon walk one day and a half-marathon walk the next. As a woman who has struggled with being comfortable in my body — not as much now — I really think endurance events give you a whole different appreciation for your body. It doesn't matter what your body looks like; your body can carry you through something so strenuous. I never love my body more than when I'm doing a half, or I'm done with a half — I'm like, "Thank you, buddy." You have to say that when you're out there, because it's a mantra that keeps you going too.
What I've noticed on a lot of the marathons I'm running — I'm a small-frame kind of guy, and I'm in pretty good physical shape endurance-wise, so I can literally just sign up for a marathon and go run it in a week or two, so it's not that big of a deal. But I've noticed there are a lot of individuals who are very heavy or may seem out of shape, and yet they can get it done. These people can get it done, even significantly overweight — I'm talking 100 pounds or so overweight — yet they have the mindset and the endurance training to finish something, whether it's a half or a full. And it's like, "Wow, those knees have got to be sore when you get done." So you may think, "I'm never going to be able to do one of those," but you could do something like that — you just need to have the right mind about it.
Listen to Your Body, Not Your Watch
During these events, you just need to listen to your body — that's what it boils down to. A lot of folks, when they first start these types of events, may have a plan, or a time they want to beat, or a certain pace per mile they want to keep. But when it all boils down to it, the best thing you can do is run without a watch — just listen to your body, don't listen to your watch. You've got to run to where you feel good.
I can give you an example from my own situation: when I go running on these marathons, if I go out too hard and too fast for too long, it kind of shuts my gut down. I've done this so many times now — 75 marathons or whatever — that I know when I get hungry, I've got a good pace. So if I'm not hungry and I start feeling full, I'm going too fast. You've got to listen to what your body is saying — it could be a knee, a hip, muscle fatigue, whatever it is. You just need to understand that things aren't going to go as planned. Plan A is good, but Plan B is okay too.
Get Outside and Enjoy It
Ultimately, we hope everybody goes out and enjoys just getting out in nature — that's some of the benefit of doing these outdoor events, to enjoy nature, like the happy birds we have outside our windows here. Just getting out and seeing the sun come up or go down, and enjoying the camaraderie and the social aspect of it — that part is just as important for longevity as being in shape.
We hope everybody got a little inspiration from this, and we hope to bring you some more podcasts about similar situations. Of course, if anybody has any questions or comments, or wants to see something specific for us to bring up on a podcast, reach out to us and let us know. And we'll keep you up to date on my little experiment on how to increase muscle and my VO2. Follow along at revelationhealthandwellbeing.com. We hope you have a healthy day.
Thank you for tuning in to another episode of Rev Up Health. We hope you're leaving with some valuable insights to supercharge your health journey. Don't forget to follow or subscribe to Rev Up Health wherever you listen to your podcasts, and if you enjoyed today's episode, please leave us a rating and review. Have a topic you want us to explore? Reach out to us on our social media channels — we love hearing from our wellness community. Until next time, keep thriving, and remember: your journey to health is a journey to a better you. Stay well, and we'll connect with you again soon. This is Tandi, and this is Dr. Mark, signing off from Rev Up Health. Take care.
The information provided in this podcast is for educational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. The content is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between a patient and their healthcare provider. Always consult with a qualified healthcare professional before making any changes to your healthcare regimen, including diet, exercise, or treatment plans. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Revelation Health and Wellbeing.